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Hi guys been wanting to start a new army. now i know which one i want but i dont really know whats most effective against what.
The army is eldar and i know at least one thing thats going to be in my army and that is a group of pathfinders because of there weapons and awesome cover save. Also thinking about the forgeworld warp hunter because it looks good. So tell me what makes eldar eldar.

Dire Avengers are your troops. Guardians are a waste of points.

Pathfinders are OK for sitting on objectives, as you said, for their awesome cover save, but they're not really an offensive unit, don't count on them killing lots.

Fire Dragons in Wave Serpents are your de-facto tank killers. Speed into place, pile out, meltagun anything to death.

Controversial, but I reckon Dark Reapers are a damn good investment, especially since so many people play marines, lots of AP3 shots are welcomed.

Some units will work for you against your opponents, some won't. Cerebrium's recommendations of Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons and Wave Serpents is the bread-and-butter of Eldar armies.

I suggest considering the following as well:
War Walkers. With dual Scatter Lasers they are devastating, especially if arriving on the correct table edge the sheer number of S6 shots will wipe out key enemy squads, transports, and monstrous creatures.

Fire Prisms. Best used in pairs. The twin fire modes makes this unit adaptable, even if the single weapon makes it vulnerable. Either use Holo Fields, or use them excessively cowardly, both combinations have their merits. When two shoot together you get a twin-linked AP3 large blast, perfect for melting Space Marine Bacon.

Wraithlord. These aren't mobile. Keep that in mind. It's one of the few Eldar units that work when it comes to lack of speed, but if the rest of the list is mech they may suffer for it. Lance+launcher is a very potent combination here.
Treat them as a very expensive, durable, heavy weapons platform capable of close combat.

Forge World units. With the exception of Shadow Spectres, the Forge World stuff is pretty fair and adds to your army - especially the Hornet will fill the rather poor Fast Attack section. Keep in mind that many tournaments and some friends may not like them.

I've just decided to start Eldar aswell and here's the 750 point list that I'm currently building towards:

Farseer - Doom, Singing Spear - 83pts

Dire Avengers x10 - Exarch - Twin Catapults, Bladestorm - 252pts
Waveserpent - TL Shuriken Cannons

Dire Avengers x 5 - 60pts
Falcon - Holo Fields, EML - 170pts

Warwalkers x 3(Squadron) - Dual Scatter Lasers - 180pts

Total: 745 pts

Alex, I would say, in that list, break the squadron into 3 choices. You need the maneuverability of having the three independent walker.

Warwalkers will be outflanking from reserve so need to be in a squadron to come on at the same time.

hate to advocate but if you are looking for eldar advice i started a thread you might want to look at

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/399530.page

other than what is said here i would say have farseers they wreck face..just make sure you kill off their librarians cause psycic hood is a pain!

Cerebrium wrote:Dire Avengers are your troops. Guardians are a waste of points.

I'm getting very fond of storm guardian squads with a destructor lock carrying a singing spear, with avatar if on foot, WS if mech. Meltas or flamers depending what you want to use them for.

Pathfinders are OK for sitting on objectives, as you said, for their awesome cover save, but they're not really an offensive unit, don't count on them killing lots.

Yep, but the occasional auto ignore of armour is useful, plus always wounds on a 4+ can be useful sometimes. Find them useful, but don't expect miracles as Cerebrium said.

Fire Dragons in Wave Serpents are your de-facto tank killers. Speed into place, pile out, meltagun anything to death.

Depends on play style usually, but this is the usual way people use them . Wraithlords with an EML/brightlance are used as well as fire prisms in a lot of lists, Fire dragons just do the job more effectively.

Controversial, but I reckon Dark Reapers are a damn good investment, especially since so many people play marines, lots of AP3 shots are welcomed.

Agreed, but they are instantly a fire magnet :(. Also depends on other heavy support choices which the eldar have a lot of good ones of in the codex. Again It will come down to your play style.

Farseers are by far the best HQ choice because of the synergy with the rest of the army, the avatar a nice choice too for points cost especially in a footslogger list.

Our elites and heavy support sections are busrting with great choices, the troops full of choices ranging from really nice, useful to mehish. Fast attack ironically for eldar is the section that seems to be seen as mostly pointless but I do like to use warp spiders in my own list, small units of 5 or 6.

The Eldar 'dex is great in that there is almost no unit that isn't useful against something. That being said, they require careful planning, and if you use a unit as something they can't do, expect a dead unit.

Eldar generally work well when units are used in concert with each other (Mind War the powerfist out of a Marine squad your Wraithlord is about to assault, for instance), take units that you can get to operate well together; the Farseer is a brilliant force multiplier, always take at least one with some mixture of Guide, Doom, and Mind War.

I personally love my Falcons, they are nigh-unkillable. I once had a Falcon survive six Battle Cannon shots with no more damage than Crew Shaken the entire game.

The problem with Eldar is their heavy support slot is so bloated. People aren't going to use Falcons, Nightspinners, or Dark Reapers when Warwalkers and Fire Prisms are so good.

The best units in the codex are Warwalkers, Fire Prisms, Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons, Farseers, and Wave Serpents for them to ride in. Guardian Jetbikes and Wraithguard are good if you have an army list built around them. The only things in the book that are really bad are Swooping Hawks and Vypers. Other units do their jobs far better.

Brother SRM wrote:The problem with Eldar is their heavy support slot is so bloated. People aren't going to use Falcons, Nightspinners, or Dark Reapers when Warwalkers and Fire Prisms are so good.

I do . Well, falcons and reapers at any rate.

The best units in the codex are Warwalkers, Fire Prisms, Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons, Farseers, and Wave Serpents for them to ride in. Guardian Jetbikes and Wraithguard are good if you have an army list built around them. The only things in the book that are really bad are Swooping Hawks and Vypers. Other units do their jobs far better.

You forgot support platforms and shining spears. They're bottom of the list choices for me, even swooping hawks come above them. The wave serpent these days is overrated though jetbikes I've found useful in any list even just a small token unit. It's surprising the lengths people go to just to take them out around me. But with the flat out ability they're good last turn objective grabbers/contesters and that extra move in the assault phase helps them annoy the enemy. Only real downside is the 12" shuriken catapult range on them, same reasons guardians are now so bad. Guess it is the enemies penance for shuriken weaponry being so good in 2nd ed, GW are arfraid something will shred marines up again

Jetbikes will be good, especially Shining Spears.
Howling Banshees should be in Wave Serpent, because they often die before getting into close combat.
Multiple Fire Prisms are good but they're expensive.

Well i was thinking of buying quite alot of eldar and sticking because to be honest all the other stories are boring plus you have like 4-5 ways of eldar.
I will also be buying the warp hunter from forgeworld as its just absolute perfection a big d cannon who wouldnt lol also i will buy at least 1 of each thing and mix match ideas

I think that the key to Eldar is to design the army to fight together. I would not dismiss any of the Eldar units, they all have uses, although some are very specialised. For example, the bright lance is good against certain units but it is a massive fire magnet and will get blasted very quickly. Swooping hawks have uses and are good against IG and similar lighter infantry. My personal favourite units are:

Warwalkers: they just pack a huge punch for low points, but at BS3 I would advise arming them with multi-shot weapons like scatter laswers.

Guardians: useless in attack but a really useful and cheap defensive unit that can sit on objectives and soak fire. I always use two full size units in big battles.

Vypers: they are massively maneouverable and cheap to buy, plus enemies tend to underrate them and don't bother with them, then get saturated with fire when the vypers sweep into them. Again BS3 so give them high rate of fire weapons.

Just my thoughts.

i know i have already given my thought but i have recently learned/realized something.

eldar need vehicles without them they are dead.

that and use dire avengers as your troops.

i got this from a guy who used to play eldar and was able to whip basically everyones but... still can just has trouble with killing BA and orks